foreign
fifties and 60s at the height of the Cold War the United States government feared that the
Soviet Chinese and North Korean agents were using mind control to brainwash U.S prisoners of war in
Korea that were now coming home fearing a Manchurian Candidate that is a person who
is not loyal to or who harms their own country or political party because they are under the
control or influence of another country or party the CIA decided to step in so what did the CIA do
to combat these supposed brainwashed veterans what kind of experiments did they conduct and
what was the top secret CIA project known as MK Ultra let's try and find out hello I'm Mike
droberg a Marine Corps veteran filmmaker history Enthusiast and investigator of the supernatural
and we will answer these questions on today's episode of Forgotten history [Music]
MK Ultra was a top secret CIA project in which the agency conducted hundreds of
clandestine experiments sometimes an unwitting U.S citizens to assess the potential use of LSD
and Other Drugs for mind control information gathering and psychological torture though
project MK Ultra lasted for almost 20 years from 1953 until about 1973
details of the program didn't become public until 1975 during a congressional investigation
according to CIA director Alan Dulles fear of the Soviet brain perversion techniques was palpable
the CIA wanted to verse itself in this type of Mind Control be able to recognize and use it in
case of a conflict with the USSR fear of the enemy ran rampant among Americans especially because of
the sharp increase in PTSD and Korean pows the damage incurred on these survivors was so severe
that mind control was thought to be the culprit so in a response Dulles approved project MK Ultra
in 1953 the covert operation aimed to develop techniques that could be used against Soviet
black enemies to control human behavior with drugs and other psychological manipulators the program
involved more than 150 human experiments involving psychedelic drugs paralytics and
electroshock therapy some test subjects knew they were participating in the study but others had no
idea even when the hallucinogen started taking effect what's even more disgraceful according
to the report by ABC News conducted in 2009 over 7 000 American veterans took part in these
experiments non-consensually during the 1950s through the 1970s many of the tests were conducted
at universities hospitals military bases and even prisons in the United States and Canada it's not
clear how many people in total were involved in the tests as the CIA kept notoriously poor
records and destroyed most of MK ultra's documents when the program was officially halted in 1973.
the CIA began to experiment with LSD MDMA mescaline heroin barbiturates methamphetamines and
psilocybin under the direction of agency chemists and poison experts Sydney Gottlieb he believed the
agency could harness the drugs mind-altering properties for brainwashing or psychological
torture studies at Columbia University Stanford University and other colleges began experiments
and after a series of tests the drugs were deemed too unpredictable for use in counterintelligence
operation midnight climax was an MK Ultra project in which government employed prostitutes lowered
unsuspecting men to CIA safe houses where the drug experiments took place
the CIA dosed the men with LSD and then while at times drinking cocktails behind a two-way
mirror watched the drugs effect on the men's behaviors recording devices were installed
in the prostitute's rooms disguises electrical outlets most of the operation midnight climax
experiments took place in the San Francisco and New York City areas the program had little
oversight and the CI agents involved admitted that a freewheeling party-like atmosphere prevailed
an agent named George White wrote to Gottlieb in 1971 quote of course I was a very minor missionary
actually a heretic but I toiled wholeheartedly in The Vineyards because it was fun fun fun where
else could a red-blooded American Boy lie kill and cheat steal deceive rape and pillage with the
sanction and blessing of the all highest another black stain for the CIA during MK Ultra was the
death of Frank Olson Frank Olson was a scientist who worked for the CIA at a 1953 CIA Retreat Olson
drank a cocktail that had been secretly spiked with LSD a few days later on November 28 1953
Olson tumbled to his death from the window of the New York City hotel room in an alleged suicide
family of Frank Olson decided to have a second autopsy performed in 1994.
a forensic team found injuries on the body that had likely occurred before the fall
finding sparked controversy theories that Olson might have been assassinated by the CIA
after a prolonged legal proceedings Olson's family was awarded a settlement of 750 thousand
dollars and received a personal apology from President Gerald Ford and the then
CIA director William Colby some famous people willingly participated in MK Ultra as well
Ken kesey the author of The 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest volunteered for
Mk Ultra experiments with LSD while he was a college student at Stanford University Cassie
later went on to promote the drug hosting LSD fueled parties that he called acid tests
acid tests combine drug use with musical performance by bands including the Grateful
Dead and psychedelic effects such as fluorescent paint and black lights these parties influenced
the early development of the hippie culture and kickstarted the 1960s psychedelic drug scene
other notable people who reportedly volunteered for cia-backed experiments with LSD include
Robert Hunter The Grateful Dead Lyricist Ted Kaczynski better known as the Unabomber
and James Whitey Bulger the notorious Boston mobster in 1974 New York Times journalist Seymour
Hersh published a story about how the CIA had conducted non-consensual drug experiments and
illegal spying operations on U.S citizens his report stated the lengthy process of bringing
long surprise details about MK Ultra to light following year President Ford in the wake of the
Watergate scandal and amid growing distrust of the US government set up the United States presidents
Commission on CIA activities within the United States to investigate illegal CIA activities
including project Ultra and other experiments on unsuspecting citizens the commission was
led by vice president Nelson Rockefeller and is commonly referred to as the Rockefeller Commission
the church committee held by Idaho Democratic senator Frank church was a larger investigation
into the abuses of the CIA FBI and other U.S intelligence agencies during and after
him the resignation of President Richard Nixon the church commission delved into plots to assassinate
foreign leaders including Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and the Congo news independence leader
Patrice lumamba it also uncovered thousands of documents related to MK Ultra these Revelations
resulted in Ford's 1976 executive order on intelligence activities that prohibited
experimentation with drugs on human subjects except with the informed consent in writing and
witnessed by a disinterested party of each such human subject in 1977 a Freedom of Information
Act request uncovered a cachet of 20 000 documents related to MK Ultra which led to Senate hearings
some surviving information about MK Ultra was Declassified in July of 2001. MK Ultra the
brainchild of the CIA is a dark period within the agency covertly and unashamingly taken against its
unknowing citizens causing death and disabilities that still reverberates with as many victims today
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